[Exploitation] Whose Puppet are You?

Day 2,338, 17:40 Published in Canada Canada by DMV3


Would you prefer to be a puppet or a real boy?

If you’ve ever been involved in a wiped nation you realize the futility of the struggle to free yourself even for a single day. The fact is real life money or a NAP are usually the only ways for a small nation to free themselves from a stronger oppressor. That’s not to say that other friendly nations aren’t willing to help, but the reality of the situation is smaller nations tend to only get help from other small nations. The big guys are too focused on acquiring resource bonuses and holding them to help their “friends” unless the help provides them with some kind of tactical advantage. There are exceptions to this rule, but as many small nations can tell you the rules tend to apply more often than not.

The current two-tier alliance structure isn’t the reason these problems exist, but the two-tier alliance structure is a logical next step in this exploitation. Leto and Aurora are the result of a system where the haves use and exploit the have-nots. Why require a separate alliance for other friendly nations? The answer is simple, it is to show smaller nations their place in the world. If they invite you into their alliance you would expect to be treated as an equal with equal say, but by forcing you into their sub-alliance you are forced to recognize that you’re interests are subservient to their own. That’s not to say they will never fight for a small nation, they will once you complain enough and fight for them every day for months, but don’t expect them to stand by you unless it is convenient to their agenda.

I know what you’re thinking, I’m complaining because Leto is tired of being Asteria’s puppet, but the truth is all small nations are treated as pawns by the big boys. For an example take a look at the recent omnibus NAP by China, Poland, Spain, Romania, and the Ukraine or at the Asia Defensive Pact released earlier today. The Nap between Ukraine and company trades Ukraine’s territory for a little cash, and guarantees that none of the nations involved will attack any of the other nations regardless of how this might affect their “allies.” It’s this kind of trading that leaves small nations without support because it helps ensure none of the big nations challenge each other’s supremacy. Yesterday Leto members were subjected to another form of exploitation by having our leadership pass down our daily orders from Asteria. Those orders were to fight for Hungary, who is neither a member of Asteria or Leto, despite the fact we have four members of Leto who will mostly likely be without a Congress again this month.

”No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”



There was once a time in this game when alliances were a collection of friends fighting together to beat their foes, but the fact is so many nations have changed sides that alliances have become nothing more than a collection of damage that each nation in the alliance is competing to get for their own purposes, whether it be for defense or for acquiring new territories, friends are now forced to compete against each other for support. This more often than not leaves small nations stranded while the large nations get their way, but this doesn’t need to remain the way things are done.

Members of the secondary alliances are expected to fight for nations who have no desire to work with us and treat us as friends, we’ve become nothing more than additional damage to help them acquire resources and hold them. They accomplish this by pointing out we’re weaker than they are and we need them, but this is only true because we only look at our own small nation. This is how they keep us all under their collective foot, they divide us and then conquer us. “You don’t like Macedonia, come fight for us against them. You don’t like Republic of China, come fight for us against them.” This is no longer the answer, we have to forge a New Order. Together the nations outside of Asteria and Sirius have more damage than the nations in Asteria and Sirius, but we have to stop acting as their pawns and fight for each other. It’s time for small nations to stop accepting their second class status and work together to defend ourselves from the exploitation of the big nations. We need to stop accepting admission into second class alliances and either they will treat us as equal partners or we will be forced to use our damage elsewhere. It's time for the nations outside of the major alliances to stand up and work together because as long as we're divided we will remain pawns in their game.


Finding a Solution



In the first part of this series we explored the exploitation of small nations by the major alliances. In this installment we will be looking at a likely solution to that exploitation.

Let’s first look at the breakdown of damage based on region to give us a starting point for discussions.


Americas:
Asteria: 14,673,553,204
Sirius: 12,961,528,352
Other Nations: 16,238,082,515

Europe
Asteria: 58,402,090,190
Sirius: 45,983,201,554
Other Nations: 58,938,649,035

Asia/Africa/Oceania
Asteria: 9,337,340,588
Sirius:8,408,943,413
Other Nations: 14,844,643,062


As you can see the nations outside of the two major alliances have more combined damage than the nations in Asteria and Sirius in every region.

Coming Together

There are two effective ways in which smaller nations can come together for mutual defense, while technically different these options are more or less the same. The first is to create regional based alliances that would cooperate with each other for mutual defense against Sirius and Asteria. The second option is to create a single alliance that brings all the small nations together but still focuses regionally. With either option the costs of carry every MPP in a region could prove cost prohibitive, so in order to be effect an extremely high degree of coordination would be necessary. This could be accomplish through requiring a certain percentage MPPs in your region in addition to a large mobile force funded by the alliance and through the use of Combat Orders in addition to the mobile force.

To pay for this the alliance would have to collect taxes from the member nations, this amount would have to be nominal to have a high degree of impact on the battlefield. All member nations that are not suffering from a wipe would have to pay taxes based on income on a weekly basis. Wiped nations would be exempt from taxation, without penalty and would not be require to make up taxes missed while wiped. I know you’re asking why shouldn’t wiped nations have to support the alliance and the answer is simple if a nation is wiped the alliance has failed to properly protect them.

This is not meant to be the exact solution that is used to solve the issues facing small nations, but is rather meant to be a starting point for a greater discussion between interested parties. Please feel free to discuss this in the comments and among your friends and members of your communities.